Article Self-Driving People, Enabled by Airbnb

[Pauline]

There is a very interesting New York Times article today about Airbnb and their new "experiences" section of the site.

New York Times - Self-Driving People, Enabled by Airbnb, Thomas L. Friedman JULY 26, 2017
I like the idea of people able to make a living, or a partial living, renting out rooms in their house/apartment, renting out their second homes when they are not using them, or creating vacation rentals to rent out. This has been going on for a long time, but Airbnb has made it more popular. The downside is that it is causing problems in some of the larger cities, where locals are priced out of neighborhoods because everything is being rented to tourists.

I really like the idea from this article about people offering local tours, showing visitors how life is lived in that place. I remember when I was involved with SlowTrav seeing people I knew from the forums set up businesses offering tours, and that was very exciting, to see people creating new travel businesses. It looks like Airbnb is giving people even more opportunties to create travel businesses.

From the article: 'Tourists visiting a foreign country try to understand the culture by going to a museum and viewing “art by dead people,” noted Chesky. “Why not learn how to make art yourself, taught by a living artist in that culture and immerse yourself in the artist’s world? These are experiences you can bring back with you!”'

I think I will start booking with Airbnb. Their website is very nice, easy to use - better than the HomeAway sites which are what I use now.

 

[Ian Sutton]

As ever, there are always shades of grey, rather than something being entirely good or entirely bad.

A number of apartments we've rented, appear to have been made available when a couple get together, decide they'll move in together, and thus they have the other property empty. Rather than sell it, they might in the past have rented it out, but this offers another option. The upside for both parties, is that many are homely. They've taken the important stuff out, but leave the majority of what makes a house a home. I'm comfortable with this type of short term rental, though not blind to the fact that a local now won't be able to buy that apartment, or rent over a longer term. It's great to have someone who has lived there give specific advice on places to eat etc. based on genuine experience (e.g. the place we stayed in Trento last year)

There is of course a risk that if the commercial opportunity is there, larger scale businesses emerge, where properties are acquired with the sole intention of holiday letting. In some cities this could become a much bigger problem for the locals, and also rather defeats this idea that we're renting from an ordinary person, when it's really an ambitious business.

regards
Ian

 

[joe]

Friedman has focused nicely on the appeal of AirBnB (he is usually quite good at identifying and defining the crux of the matter he writes about).
AirBnB has become the first resource I check for accommodation in a location that I am not familiar with (also here in the country, if needs be...).
As Pauline has mentioned, the platform is very easy to use, quite reliable, and has lots to offer. But not less important is indeed what awaits at the other end : an accommodation with a "real" face behind it, and a lodging that is more similar to a home than an accommodation (well, at least that's what we look for).
The fact that it has grown "from below" and from people who have no connection with the accommodation industry, makes for a more local and person-to-person experience, not to mention the fact that because people are different, every accommodation experience is different. None of the "chain" uniformity.
It's probable that the negatives will be solved through regulation, and things will balance out.
As Friedman states, it's good to see that the sharing economy has given rise to the sharing of experiences and passions - and if this can help people make a living, without having to go through a monolithic bureaucracy that is sometimes involved, then why not.

 

[Ian Sutton]

A piece on the BBC today, about the way AirBnB use different companies in different countries to reduce the tax they pay.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41543449
Tax efficiency or tax avoidance? We shall see how the UK and EU governments respond.

 

[Callie]

Here's the "Why not?" on airbnb.

In my small coastal town in Maine, investors are buying property and turning it into short term vacation rentals (Airbnb, VRBO, Home Away, etc.). The result is that people no longer have neighbors, houses are dark all winter and people needing reasonable housing near their work are unable to find it. The residents who rent a room or a small apartment on their property make a wonderful contribution to our tourist industry, but they are a very small number of the short term vacation rentals. In addition these rentals are not taxed as a business, which they clearly are, while our licensed BnBs pay significant taxes. Life safety codes are often not enforced and many of these rentals do not have hard wired smoke detectors or adequate exits in case of fire. Small towns don't always have the capacity to inspect every rental and many rentals try to fly under the radar by not getting a permit to operate.

Short term vacation rentals are destroying our neighborhoods. Every independent rental is a potential home for a neighbor - someone who will contribute to our community, volunteer at our food pantry, help keep our shops open all winter, look out for an elderly neighbor, coach a sports team or otherwise participate in the life our community. We don't want to see an unending string of strangers coming and going. We want friends and neighbors who are a meaningful part of our community.

 

[Roz]

Callie, in Napa, where I live, the town has passed regulations to limit the number and types of Airbnb rentals because of some of the same problems you cite. There is a serious shortage of housing in California, and these rentals contribute to making it worse. There are a very few licenses available for legal short-term rentals in Napa, and most of those have to be in homes where there are owners living full time.

 

[Callie]

I am hoping our city adopts some significant caps on these rentals before it's too late.

 

[phirhon]

This seems to be an increasing issue. There is a very popular coastal town here where locals are being priced out of the market when permanent rentals become holiday rentals instead. It is supply and demand of course, and people are always interested in increasing their income and people always want to have holidays. It seems to be worse in some areas than others. For a lot places the income from tourists is a vital part of their economy. I do feel for you, Callie, and what is happening in your part of the world. But is there a solution?

Having said that, we have spent 46 weeks staying in gites in France since 2006 and are researching another trip now. We like to travel for an extended time and have a modest budget. So for us self catering is the way to travel. We can neither afford to, nor do we want to, stay in hotels/B&Bs and eat in restaurants every day for ten weeks. We do not stay on the coast or in cities. Our stays are in small villages or hamlets, in the country , on farms. Our weekly average for accommodation last year for our ten week trip was 300 euro per week - as I said, we have a modest budget.

So I thought about the places we have had over the years, and we have had some very nice gites. A lot have been attached to the owner's house - under or beside. In April 2016 we stayed just outside the walls at Pernes les Fontaines in Provence. It was the former garage ( we know this because streetview shows it being renovated ) and had a living- dining room, small but adequate bathroom, small , well equipped one person galley kitchen, and a small bedroom with two single beds off the living room.We used this for our bags and as a dressing room. The queen sized bed was on a mezzanine platform above the living area with enough room to walk around the bed . The bed was comfortable with lovely linen, there was plenty of hot water,and it was a very pleasant place to spend two weeks. Because we booked two weeks it was discounted to 250 euro per week. This is not a place where someone would live on a permanent basis.

Our following two weeks were also in what had been the garage of the house. One gite that trip was under the owners' house on a farm . Very comfortable with private courtyard and undercover parking, but not somewhere to live full time. We have had apartments in barns where the owners live on site. At this stage I do not feel we are taking a home someone could live in permanently, except maybe a young family member transitioning to independence or an elderly person needing to be near family, in which case the owners would most likely use it for that purpose. Perhaps our small budget confines us to places like this.

So while I am sure this is becoming a problem in some places, in others it is an important part of that community. Slow travel , by definition , is staying longer in one place and using self catering rentals. Perhaps those areas where it is a problem need legislation as Roz suggested to help alleviate the situation, while places where it is does not have that impact can continue as is until, if ever, the situation changes.

 

[Pauline]

I agree that local legislation has to step in and regulate this. In Santa Fe there were a lot of rentals and the city licensed them, with a high yearly fee, and limited the number.

It is interesting that 17 years ago, when I started SlowTrav, it was difficult to find vacation rentals in the US or in Europe. In Europe it was mostly places on farms. The large cities had some apartments. This way of travel has boomed in the last decade. I think AirBnb somehow changed the way people looked at vacation rentals and made them very popular - it brought new travelers to this type of accommodation and new owners to provide it. With AirBnb they don't have to set up their own website, so offering accommodation is easier.

Are small family-run hotels suffering because of AirBnb? They must be - since so many travelers now automatically look for an AirBnb, not a hotel.

What started out as a good way for people with farms to earn income from tourists has turned into something that affects neighborhoods and communities. I am sad about the changes to communities, but I always stay in vacation rentals.

 

[Ian Sutton]

Easy for us to confuse the issues. That one section of the market has gained an unfair advantage in bypassing legislation / taxes is an issue that definitely needs addressing.

However alongside that, I've felt for many years that hotels don't offer an experience I want. I tolerated them for work, though often I'd choose to work longer hours when away from home, so I could leave for the weekend earlier, so not spending as much waking hours there. Far too many are soulless, overpriced and operating on a model that requires certain types of property that impacts the price. For the past 15 years we've tended to only consider hotels for the occasions where it's just a single night stay.

Apartments & agriturismi offer us much more enjoyment and restfulness